


The Chancellor & I

by Ewok_Poet



Series: Anjie Mencuri stories [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Children, Cute Kids, Drawing, Force-sensitive youngling, Gen, Humor, Keren - Freeform, Naboo - Freeform, Post-Battle of Geonosis, Premonitions, Theed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-19
Updated: 2016-11-19
Packaged: 2018-08-31 22:10:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8595763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ewok_Poet/pseuds/Ewok_Poet
Summary: A young judge named Aldo Mencuri tries to woo Senator Padmé Amidala and is then, err, beetroot-blocked by a blissfully unaware Jar Jar Binks. Aldo’s three-year-old son Anjie Mencuri is briefly left on his own in the Theed Palace while the three take part in an urgent meeting and attempts to befriend an older man who comes along…





	

On what looked to be just another day at the Central Court of Keren, Aldo Mencuri, a young judge in training, received an urgent comm from Theed. Minutes later, he was on the repulsortrain, en route to attend an urgent meeting which was to involve Senator Padmé Amidala and, as rumoured, Chancellor Palpatine himself. Such were the perks of having been a part of the Youth Legislator Programme in the past – he was often called to take part in important meetings concerning the safety of his home planet, alongside a couple of other young judges and minor officials. And, more importantly, such powerful figures as the Queen, the Gungan Bosses, the Royal Advisory Council and Senator Padmé Amidala.  
  
Aldo Mencuri loved working with Padmé Amidala solely for one reason – she was beautiful. His marriage was about to go down in flames and he had been well aware of that for a long time now, so flirting with about any woman he considered pretty enough was his standard practice. And she was affluent as well. He had never seen her with a man, and – to him – that was a clear sign that she was available. The eight-year difference did not stop him, either. After all, all women were supposed to like older men, weren’t they?  
  
Today might have not been the best day for flirting, though. Amidala came back to Naboo looking really, really worn out and slightly beaten – as if she had been in a battle. Mencuri was confused when he saw her on HoloNet news the night before. On top of this, it was the “bring your youngling to work” day back at his office in Keren and, since his wife was working and his parents were away, he came to Theed with his three-year-old son, Anjie.  
  
The toddler had never seen the Theed Royal Palace before. He liked how everything echoed when he squealed and he greeted the statues as if they were real beings, much to dismay of the courtiers and guards. Aldo was hoping that nobody of relative importance would come across his son and accuse him, an aspiring politician, of breaking the rules. But what he was told to come for could have been a recipe for disaster.  
  
“Why are we here, daddy?” Anjie asked.  
  
“It appears that the Separatists have declared a war on the Republic. Queen Jamillia is about to abdicate and we have work on the technicalities of the new queen’s election. Boss Lyonie of the Gungans is going to be there, too.”  
  
“Who is going to be the new Queen, daddy?”  
  
“Neeyutnee, they said.”  
  
“That’s a funny name!”  
  
“Of course. But you are not going to say that out loud. Please, Anjie!”  
  
Just then, they bumped into Senator Padmé Amidala, who was accompanied by the Representative Jar Jar Binks.  
  
“Good day, your Highness!” Aldo put on his best Naboo charmeur smile and then took a bow, but he nearly managed to trip himself. He attributed that to the presence of Binks.  
  
“Good day, judge…what was it again?”  
  
“Mencuri. Aldo Mencuri.” How come she didn’t remember him?  
  
“Ah, right. I apologise. It’s been a rough couple of days. I was almost killed by ferocious wild beasts in the arena on Geonosis in the Outer Rim. Many Jedi Knights have perished in the battle, as well as Clones. The Confederacy of Independent Systems got what they wanted, finally – we are going to have a useless war, after nearly thousand years of peace. I’m devastated, Master Mencuri.”  
  
“Mesa devastaten, too. Dis mooie mooie bad!” Binks shook his head. “Dey comen with all de machineeks again! Boopjak!”  
  
“I know, Jar Jar.” Amidala patted the Gungan on the back and turned to Aldo again. “What I need your help with, Master Mencuri, will be some minor technicalities. We need to determine what is viable from a law point of a view. You are going to join me in this small conference room. There’s a holocomm, in case we need help from your colleagues in Keren.”  
  
Aldo liked this. Perhaps this was going to be his lucky day, after all.  
  
“Representative Binks will be joining us, too. He needs to get a hold of Boss Lyonie – it appears that the poor man had been travelling through the planet core and we are worried that something happened to him. He is not returning his comms!”  
  
Aldo did not like this. Flirting in presence of such a spotlight grabber as Representative Binks was worse than swimming near the crematorium! He looked nervously around the hall and just then, Padmé noticed that he wasn’t alone.  
  
“Is that your son?”  
  
“Yes, this is my son, his name is Anjie. Anjie, this is Senator Padmé Amidala, she is representing us in Coruscant!”  
  
Anjie grinned. “Granny Sooja puts Coruscant on the clothes when drying them, too! Lots of Coruscant!”  
  
Senator Amidala smiled.  
  
  
“She has to use lots of Coruscant, because I still wet the bed sometimes!” The youngling admitted, blushing.  
  
  
“You’ll stop at some point.” Amidala ran her fingers through the boy’s angleberry-blonde hair. “You’re already a big boy, aren’t you?”  
  
  
Anjie nodded. He felt that he made a new friend and he was proud to be a big boy - _and he must have been so if she said that!_ He was so excited that he even forgot to ask this “separator Amidala” what her first name was.  
  
  
But Aldo was worried. What was Anjie saying in presence of the woman that he wanted to woo? Was he doing that on purpose? The other day, he called him “daddy scum”, for Jug-Jug’s sake! And why was he, a Human, honouring a Gungan goddess, anyway?  
  
“Can I come with you, daddy? Please!” Anjie was now pulling his father’s judge garb.  
  
“No.” Aldo pointed to a small table and a beautiful, stylized bench. “You’re going to wait for me there. Here’s a stylus and some flimsi.” He handed Anjie the stationery. “Don’t go anywhere. I’ll be right back. I promise.”  
  
He patted the boy on the head and disappeared behind the closed doors, together with Senator Amidala and Representative Binks. Anjie was now on his own. He took the stylus, stuck his little tongue out and started sketching the nearest statue. A couple of minutes later, he raised the sheet of flimsi and looked at it against the light coming in from a large window. His statue of a Human looked a lot like a half-dismantled droid. He frowned, curled the flimsi into a ball and tossed it aside. The next drawing was supposed to be the door, but it ended up looking like a small freighter. Anjie shook his head and tried a third time, hoping to draw what he could see through the window. There was a tower visible from when he was sitting, but, to his horror, it ended up looking like a really ugly stylus! He was on the verge of tears, as he curled up the third ball of flimsi and he threw it away angrily.  
  
“Hello, young man! Careful with that!” the voice came from further away. The ball of flimsi had hit somebody who had just come in.  
  
Anjie got up and looked at the person who had just come down the hall. Looking back at him was an older man with grey hair, in violet, grey and blue garb. He seemed friendly, but there was an air of authority to him – something that the little boy knew could result in being scolded. Therefore, he had to apologise!  
  
“I’m sorry!” he exclaimed quickly. “I thought I was alone here. Daddy told me to wait for him and…I draw a thing and it’s not a thing!” He crossed his arms and pouted.  
  
The man was intrigued about the drawing comment, but that was not what he had come for.  
  
“Have you, perchance, seen Senator Amidala? I’m looking for her.”  
  
“No!” The boy shook his head. “My name is Anjie. I’m three!”  
  
“I’m the Chancellor and I’m looking for Senator Amidala.”  
  
“Chancellor? That’s a strange name! Why did your parents call you that?”  
  
“No, that’s not my name. That’s what I do. My job is to…”  
  
“When I grow up, I am going to become that when I grow up! And I will change my name from Anjie Mencuri to Chancellor when I grow up.”  
  
“I…don’t think that’s a good idea, young man.”  
  
“No?” The little boy cocked his head. “Then I’m going to be a Brave Little Bantha!”  
  
There was no answer. Anjie got suspicious.  
  
“Have you ever heard of the Brave Little Banthas? They have a theme song! It goes…Brave, brave, little banthas! Brave, brave, little banthas! Brave, brave, little banthas! Serving the Republic, salutes!”  
  
The Chancellor could not understand the extremely unsophisticated kind of entertainment that holotoons were. While they could, eventually, have potential for what he needed in the future, he was clearly not going to handle that himself and right now, they were of no interest to him. It was just a charade.  
  
“The Brave Banthas are fictional, they must have been based on the Jedi Knights. It’s us, the politicians, who really take care of the Republic. We serve the Galactic citizens and we are very fond of the principles of democracy.”  
  
“My favourite Little Bantha is Leero! He’s an inventor and he also likes whipped cream with shuura and zherry fruit salad. And huttza! Like me! Brave Banthas, peace for the Galaxy!”  
  
The child leaped into the air, bent back and kicked another ball of flimsi with suspicious precision. The movement reminded the Chancellor of some of the greatest practitioners of Teräs Käsi among the Jedi Knights early on in their careers. The dark lord in disguise was now sure – the talkative youngling at least had some traces of the Force.  
  
“Say, Anjie…you were drawing when I came in. But why do you draw? Do you want to become the Galaxy’s next best painter? Like the one your Brave Little Bantha was named after?”  
  
“No.” Anjie looked down. “I wanted to cheer up daddy. He’s really sad right now.”  
  
“Cheer up your daddy, eh?” That was too much kindness, with no single hint of ambition.  
  
“My daddy, yes...he’s a judge and his name is Aldo!”  
  
That name had a familiar ring to it. “Aldo? As in Judge Aldo Mencuri?”  
  
“Yes, that’s my daddy! If he was a brave Bantha, he would…”  
  
“Stop that and tell me where he is! He was supposed to be with Padmé!” The Chancellor used Senator Amidala’s first name by mistake.  
  
“Padmé? Daddy says that Padmé is more beautiful than my mother because the blondes stop being egg-citing at a certain pot of time.”  
  
“Stop! Just stop! Where are they?” The Chancellor was yelling at this point.  
  
“Right in this room, Cha…cha…champion!” The youngling pointed to the big door. He was on the verge of tears.  
  
The Chancellor stopped for a moment to think. His Master had once told him that every single being with a midichlorian count higher than normal could be exploited. Exploited and used as a means toward achieving the greatest objective – ultimate power. But at this point, he begged to disagree. This child was not worth the effort. Moreover, he didn’t seem ambitious enough. He didn’t seem ambitious at all.  
  
“Fine. I am going to join them!” He marched away and closed the door behind him.  
  
The boy broke into tears.  
  
Twenty minutes later, Aldo Mencuri came out of the conference room. Anjie was sitting in the same place where he had left him, crying and clutching a piece of flimsi to his chest.  
  
“What is going on in here? Anjie? The Chancellor told me that he saw my youngling outside and he didn’t seem particularly delighted.”  
  
“He does not like the Brave Little Banthas!” Anjie said, in-between weeps. “He said that politicians and ‘Deejay Knights’ were the ones who kept the Galaxy peaceful. He is evil, though his robe is nice! I don’t like him, but he is probably nobody’s uncle and that’s why!”  
  
“Anjie!” Aldo was gasping by this point. “You’re being disrespectful to the leader of all people!”  
  
“Am not!” Anjie shook his head. “Look, I drew him this, so he would be nice to me!”  
  
He handed Aldo a piece of flimsi. The drawing was messy, but it resembled a very old woman with a wrinkled face wearing a dark-coloured cloak.  
  
“I don’t understand this. Who is she?”  
  
“He! The Champion! It’s a parfait of him!” Anjie said, proudly. “I wanted to draw a parfait of you because you were sad, but he was sad, too…sad and mean. So, I drew him instead.”  
  
“Anjie…he does not look like that! He will never look like that!”  
  
“He does. I closed my eyes when he left and that’s how he looked like. You know, that thing where you close your eyes and you see one thing then you slowly see another thing inside…”  
  
Aldo was close to giving up. He did know that his son was very bright for his young age, even if [or though] a bit unusual. He wondered if he should seek advice – perhaps catch Seeg-mon D’Fraud on the HoloNet. His supervisor, Judge Gradd, said that D’Fraud’s HoloNet show was very good when dealing with family law, too. Perhaps this was something that needed to be closely observed. Or perhaps it was nothing and his little boy was just hungry, sleepy…or both.  
  
“Anjie, would you like something to eat?”  
  
“Yes! I will have what Leero the Brave Bantha has – huttza! Brave, brave little banthas, brave, brave little banthas…”  
  
“Not again!” Aldo shook his head. But he let the boy continue, regardless of how much he hated the Brave Little Banthas and their theme song. He sung it until he got a large slice of huttza at the nearby market with ryoo leaves, nerf ham and mooncheese. Then, of course, he fell asleep in the repulsortrain seat on the way back to Keren. And when they got there, he desperately needed to use the refresher.  
  
Strange, or maybe not, Anjie Mencuri never cared about politics again – not even when everybody’s lives, including his own, depended on it.


End file.
